Monday, February 18, 2013

Is the Easiest Card the best card?

by Tom Carreras

I found an interesting article about easy cards on BBC's website. It is about "easycards" in Taiwan that do everything - open your office door, check in at school, ride the bus, go to a hospital, or even buy lunch. Kids have them, adults have them, and they are extremely popular.

Everything is tied to this one card

While on the surface this might not seem entirely relevant to the class, to me it is paralleled by things like Google accounts or the ability to have an account on so many sites simply with a facebook account. They are very versatile accounts to have and make the prospect of having the account hacked more worrying. Also, the easycard seems to be something that could feasibly be on the horizon for other countries - perhaps America too?

Everything all tied to your facebook...a good thing?

I personally use my facebook to log in at other sites - but typically it is for sites I would not use as often and therefore do not want a completely new account and password for. I personally enjoy the convenience factor of it - and the Easy card definitely is in that vein. I find it to be very interesting personally. However, the fact that it contains so much important information - with newer models having your picture and name - and is a physical object make me think that it is probably not something that would be as practical.

What do you think? Will easycards (or something like it) emerge in America in the next few years? What do you think of facebook integration on other websites?

10 comments:

I think technology like easycards could emerge in America in the near future. Just because they become available doesn't necessarily mean they will become popular. As the post mentions, there can be privacy and security issues with such devices. Personally, I don't think easy cards would be all that easy to implement into society. Lost cards would be disastrous because the one card is the key to every aspect of someone's life. Also, that form of technology would depend on greater involvement on the part of the user and provider that I'm not sure is willing to be spent.

This technology definitely sounds like something that could be used in the US very soon. I think that they would be relevant for individuals in large cities more so than simply for schools, but I see the similarity between our IDs for school, and the cards they have in say Chicago that you scan to ride any type of public transportation.

I think that the card idea has the same obstacles that logging in with Facebook poses. There is a chance that others can get that information and not just have access to a single aspect of your life, but multiple sites and/or locations.

If privacy settings are revamped, and there is a way to make sure these cards are used only by an individual I could see the possibility of them being both useful and effective.

I agree with both Taryn and Melanie to an extent. Yes, it could be introduced to the U.S. but I see it having more of an effect as our cards here at school have in that it should only be used in certain communities. If it were used at like K-12 schools, it could be useful in teaching kids responsibility because it would hold all of their information on it but I don't see the Easycards having a full-on effect in the U.S.

I do like the point of an Easycard. It would provide easy access to get food or transportation, but I feel that this type of card would be difficult for children to remember. I agree with Ariel, that these cards would allow children to learn able responsibility, but what happens if a student's card is stolen or he or she forgets it for the day. It would be more realistic for these cards to be given to young adults or just adults. I can see these being used in the future.

These cards make me think of the eWallet that some phone companies tried to implement where you could pay for stuff with your phone. I think this poses the same problem that those did in one aspect: that it requires the people on the receiving end (i.e. schools companies, stores etc.) to implement technology to read these cards. Having the card itself does you no good if there is nowhere to use it. And I don't think it will catch on because I doubt corporations will hop on the bandwagon fast enough for the pioneers and early adapters (on the consumer's side) to be able to use effectively, and since they are not getting much use of it, I doubt the rest of the US population would follow. There are also the privacy issues but since those seem to have been adressed all the other comments I thought I would provide a different point of view.

This article was definitely interesting to read because it is so unlike anything we have here in America right now. Sure, the convenience factor for not carrying multiple ID's and credit cards, or even cash, is really nice to consider. But, I don't know that I would trust one company to keep my personal information and accounts safe. Another thing to consider would be, what happens if you lose your EasyCard? Not only to you lose one for of payment you usually use, but you lose all other forms and ID cards for entrance into your place of work or school.

I am also someone who uses their Facebook account to link with other sites (usually games on my smart phone), but I would not like having all of my transactions run through one little card. I actually hope America does not adopt something similar to the EasyCard because I fear it would cause more problems in the long run.

Personally, I think this type of "universal" card poses potential problems with things like security, or identity theft. I mean if one single card can do all these things, then the potential for people to find ways to take advantage of this "universal" method are limitless.

I definitely could see these taking hold in America, but my questions regarding security coincide with many of the questions brought up in previous comments. What is stoping someone from swiping this thing and easycarding their way into someone else's life? Perhaps if some viable precaution to avoid this presents itself (and I have a feeling it will, if it hasn't already), we will se these cards become more prevalent.

I found this super interesting! Never even thought of such a thing! I can't say I would be surprised if it comes to America. I am not sure how popular the card will be but who is to say? Who knew the internet would be popular? I find the idea very unpleasant as I wouldn't want my whole life in a card. Anyone could take it and use it. I don't even like to use my debit card because of all the issues of people stealing numbers at restaurants and gas stations. It's scary to rely on a card for such a thing.

I believe the "Easy card" has already come to America via the push of iPhones and apps where we are getting into using our phones as a way to pay for transactions. Walk into any store nowadays and there will be an area for your phone to be scanned for purchases. This card isn't new as much as it is over here as it is over there.